Standard Bank: IT Strategy & Transformation

A key component of Standard Bank's high-performance strategy was the establishment of an e-procurement marketplace that would help to retain existing customers as well as serve as a new revenue stream for the bank. Accenture partnered with Standard Bank to formulate a strategy for the development of the marketplace, including target segments, range of products and services to be offered through the marketplace, value propositions, and business case.

Standard Bank is one of the big four full-service South African banks. It is the largest South African banking group ranked by assets and earnings. The group's network spans 14 other sub-Saharan countries and extends to 20 countries on other continents, including the key financial centers of Europe, the United States and Asia. It had total assets of over R284 billion (approximately $35 billion) at December 31, 2000, and employs more than 32,000 people worldwide.

During 1999, Standard Bank developed an e-commerce strategy to deal with the new economy. A key component of this strategy was the establishment of an e-procurement marketplace that would help to retain existing customers as well as serving as a new revenue stream for the bank.

The main challenge for this project was to establish a B2B marketplace that would be truly differentiated in the e-procurement marketplace in South Africa. Entering at the early stages of the evolution of the market, the business model needed to be kept flexible enough to respond to constant change in a fluid new industry. As the market bellwether, the marketplace was also faced with the problem of changing buyer and supplier behavior.

In the first phase (May 2000), Accenture partnered with Standard Bank to formulate a strategy for the development of the marketplace, including target segments, range of products and services to be offered through the marketplace, value propositions and business case.

During the second phase, lasting nine months, the Accenture team worked closely with client team members to design, build, test, pilot, and launch the flexible and scalable e-commerce marketplace using Ariba software as the platform. Separate business development teams were established to bring buyers and suppliers on board. The marketplace—www.thetradestandard.com—successfully went live in March 2001. www.thetradestandard.com was the first Ariba marketplace to be rolled out in the EMEIA region and the first with an integrated electronic payment solution outside of the United States.

The benefits included increased efficiency of the procurement process, reduced procurement costs and greater control over the procurement process. These benefits were made available without the need to invest in new technology or other complex installations.

For suppliers, the benefits include access to Standard Bank's business customer base, reduced customer acquisition costs and improved operating efficiencies. This was achieved through adopting a focused business model that integrated closely with the bank's existing online financial services offerings.

For Standard Bank the benefits included additional revenue opportunities as well as customer retention.